Device for use in loading and unloading freight cars



March 28,1950 R. c. STACEY 2,502,181 DWICE FOR Us: IN LOADING ANDUNLOADING FREIGHT CARS Filed Jan. 18, 1947 INVENTOR.

RICHARD c; STACEY HIS A TTORNEYS Patented Mar. 28,, 1950 UNITED STATES 252.,lii1

NT QFFICE.

DEVICE FOR USE IN LOADING AND UNEOADING FREIGHT CARS tion of DelawareApplicationJanuary 18, 1947, Serial No. 722,887

loading. and unloading vehicles such as freightv cars and the. like.that. is easily adjustable and capable of being, attached to or removed.from such. vehicles. without. requiring any substantial changes in theconstruction thereof.

In the. loading and unloading of freight cars, for example, from. or.tonplatforms, trucks and the like, itis customary touse relativelyprimitive means, suchasanumber of planks thrown across theopeningbetweenthe doorsill of thefreight car and the platform or truck to or fromwhich articles of freight. are transferred. Ifhis is. particularlytruewhen. a: freight car stands on a curved section. of. track. inasmuchas.- the space betweerr the loading. platform; and, the doorsill of the.freight car. is. thereby increased, thus making' it hazardous for the.loading, personnel andaffording a space through. which articles offreight can easily be dropped.

Another disadvantage. oi the aforementioned primitive means of loadingor unloading vehicles such asfreight.carsis'that the. deviation from.the horizontal ofthe. planhsis-determinedf entirely by the relativeelevations of the platform or truck and the floor of the. freight car.When, for example, the floor of. the freight car is higher than theplatform and itlis desired, to load the car witharticles of freight, itis necessary for personnel to. carry each. articleup the ramp. Thisinevitably increases-the time required to-1oad a freight car and isfatiguing and hazardous to. the loading, personnel.

One: object 015 the=present: invention is to provide a ramp which caneasily be adjusted for loading or imloadi-ng'. a freight car or the likewithout requiring the loading personnel to move across the space-betweenthe doorsi lof the freight car and platform, truck or the like totransfer articles of freight over said space.

Another object of the invention is to provide an adjustableramp whichcan easily be. attached to and removed from a standard freight car orthe likewithout requiring any change in its structure.

These and other objects as well. as the. utility and advantages of thepresent invention. will be.- come apparent from the detailed descriptionthat follows and from the accompanying drawing wherein:

Figure 1 is an elevation illustrating one embodiment of the presentinvention;

Figure 2 is a section taken along section line 22 of Figure 1 looking inthe direction of the arrows;

2 Claims. (Cl. 105-436) car. or may simply be made. to. rest upon. the

Figure? is a sectional planview taken on. sec-- tion line 33 of Figure2; and.

Figure 4 is a segmental view in section illustrating schematically analternative embodiment. of the invention.

A ramp iii provided with reenforcing side members ii and, if desired,with foot members I2 is mounted upon one or more, and preferably two,pipe couplings M fixed to the underside of ramp ill. The outer end [.6of ramp i0 is supportedby an extensibleframe assembly. comprising alowerspacer bar or pipe section l'l rotatably mounted. in couplings M, anupper spacer bar or. pipe section it anda pair. of telescopic suspensionmem! bers comprising pipe sections 20 slidably mounted. within pipesectionsZ [1. Lower spacer bar I] maybe connected to pipe sections 2.0by means of elbows 22 and upper spacer bar I-9. may be conneoted bymeans of Ts fitting over pipe sections l or, as shown, by meansof atierod 24 secured. by nuts 26. Pipe sections 2.0 are provided. with anumber of equidistantly spaced holes. 21 and. pipe sections 25 are.provided with holes 29. also. equidistantly spaced, but preferably at.greater or lesser intervals than holes 27 so that at leastone of eachseries of holes. 2.! and 29 will. be in register for every relativeposition of pipe sections it and 21. Pipe sections 2|. are provided.with pins Bil. adapted to be inserted through. holes 2'! and 29. ofpipe. sections 20 and. 2], respectively, said p ns 3t preferably,though. not necessarily, being attached to pipe sections 2| by means ofchains H. The upper extremities of pipe sections 2! are attached to Ts32. that are sliolably.

mounted upon a horizontal. ine section. 34, preferably provided with ahole 36 adjacent each end.

Horizontal. pipe section 34 may, if desired, be

permanently attachedte the. side 31; of a freight upper hinges 39.supporting doors. ofa freight carp Two pins. 4!. adapted to. engageholes 38 at either end of horizontalpipe section. 34 are preferablyprovidedv as. a safety measure to rare-- I vent horizontal pipe section.34 from slipping longitudinally over and pasteither of the upper hingesv59.

At least one other, and preferably two, pipe couplings 42 are fixed tothe underside of ramp ii] intermediate pipe couplings l4 and footmembers i2. A U-frame comprising pipe section 44 and a pair of curvedlegs 46 is pivotally mounted in couplings it. Curved legs 46 maysuitably be attached to pipe section 44 by means of elbows 41 and areprovided with Ts 49 slidably mounted on arms 5i) of curved legs 46.Hooked arms 5! are mounted in the upstanding openings of T's 49. Arms 50are provided with a number of equally spaced holes 52 and Ts 49, whichare also perforated, are each provided with a pin 54 adapted ot engageholes 52 in arms 50 as well as the perforations in Ts 49. Pins 54 may,if desired, be attached to Ts 49 by means of chains 56.

In operation the loading device illustrated is attached to a freight carby simply placing horizontal pipe section 34 over hinges 39 and betweenside 3'! and doors 40 of a freight car. Undue longitudinal movement ofhorizontal pipe section 34 is prevented by inserting pins 4| into holes35. Pipe sections 20 are then telescoped into or out of pipe sections 2|until the platform end I6 of ramp I is at the desired elevation. Whenthis has been accomplished, the relative positions of pipe sections 20and 2| are fixed by inserting pins 30 through any holesZ'l and 29 thathappen to be in register. The extent of entry into the car of inner end51 of ramp i0 is then adjusted by sliding Ts 49 along arm 50 of curvedleg 46 and, when the desired position has been found, pins 54 areinserted through the holes in Ts 49 and the nearest registering hole 52in arm 50.

If it is desired to remove the device from the side of a freight car,horizontal pipe section 34 is simply lifted off hinges 39 and the deviceis then free to be withdrawn. If, on the other hand, the loading deviceis to be retracted without removing it, end 51 of ramp in is simplyraised so that the extensible frame assembly supporting outer endflfi oframp H) can swing downwardly until it is substantially parallel to theside of the freight car. Inner end 57 of ramp 10 can either be movedalong floor 59 of the freight car so that upon adjustment of thecombined lengths of pipe sections 20 and 2| ramp Ill will remainsubstantially horizontal or inner end 51 of ramp I 0 can be raised sothat ramp [0 will assume a position that is substantially vertical. Inthe latter event, curved leg 46, being pivotally mounted in pipecouplings 42, can continue to rest on floor 59 of the car.

Outer end l6 of ramp H] can be raised or lowered simply by removing pins30, decreasing or increasing, respectively, the combined lengths of pipesections 20 and 2|, and reinserting pins 30 into any two holes 21 and 29that happen to be in register. Thus, for example, when it is desired tounload articles of freight from a freight car. it is desirable toincrease the combined length of telescoping pipe sections 20 and 2! sothat ramp I 0 will slope downwardly toward the platform, truck or thelike. If, on the other hand, the freight car is to be loaded witharticles of freight, the combined length of telescopic pipe sections 20and 2! is made shorter than shown in Figure 2 so that the articles offreight can slide or roll by gravity along ramp l0 and into the freightcar. Hooked arms are in abutment with sill 60 of the freight car andthus counteract the tendency of ramp l 0 to slide into the freight car.

It is evident that numerous changes and alterations in the devicespecifically illustrated will occur to those skilled in the art uponreading the foregoing description. Thus, for example, the ramp may, asshown in Figure 4, advantageously be provided with a series of rollers6| such as those employed in well known conveyor systems.

It is to be understood, therefore, that the present invention is notintended to be limited to the structure specifically described hereinbut is intended to include all such changes, alterations andmodifications as come within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A device for use in loading and unloading a freight car having hingeddoors on the side which device comprises a substantially horizontalsupporting member adapted to rest on the hinges of said doors andbetween said doors and the side of the freight car, a substantiallyrectangular frame pivotally suspendedfrom said supporting member andcomprising an upper spacer bar, a lower spacer and two telescopicsuspension members, means for adjusting the lengths of said telescopicsuspension members, a ramp having two ends. said ramp being pivotallymounted at one end upon said lower spacer bar and adapted to rest, atthe other end, on the floor of the freight car when the ramp is inoperative position, a U frame pivotally attached to said ramp at a pointintermediate the ends of the ramp, at least one leg of said U-framebeing forked so that one arm of said fork will rest upon the floor ofsaid freight car and the other arm will abut the door sill, and meansfor adjusting the relative lengths of said arms.

2. A device for use in loading and unloading a freight car having hingeddoors on the side which device comprises a substantially horizontalsupporting member adapted to rest on the hinges of said doors andbetween said doors and the side of said freight car, a substantiallyrectangular frame pivotally suspended from said supporting member andcomprising an upper spacer bar, a lower spacer and two telescopicsuspension members, means for adjusting the lengths of said telescopicsuspension members, a ramp having two L ends and provided with a seriesof conveyor rollers,

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 887,167 Wilkes May 12, 19081,034,061 Benedict July 30, 1912 1,380,229 Manheim May 31, 19212,177,525

Henderson Oct. 24, 1939

